Leaving one close family for another
Published on June 1st, 2005
Ironically, Central School Principal Kathy Windisch will leave her family to spend more time with relatives.
According to the elementary school's veteran administrator, her decision to end her seven-year tenure as principal coincided perfectly with her granddaughter's need for a daytime caretaker. So on June 30, Windisch will say her goodbyes to the community that became her second home for more than a decade.
"I've been an educator for over 35 years. From elementary teacher, to assistant principal, to principal, it's been a great ride. Like all educators, it's been part of my life, not just a job," said Windisch.
"I have a gorgeous baby granddaughter that I will be able to take care of as her mother goes through her schooling. So the timing just worked out for me," the former Stoneham Middle School assistant principal added.
According to newly elected School Committee member Maureen Soley, who worked with Windisch as the Robin Hood Elementary School's Principal until her own recent retirement from the education profession, she understands Windisch's motivation to "leave one family to spend time with her other one."
"We worked together pretty closely before I retired, and she's always been very professional. Because of school councils and MCAS testing and MCAS remediation, [being a principal] has really become a 20-hour a day job in Massachusetts," Soley explained. "She wanted more time to be with her family. And we'll certainly miss her."
In a career that stretched over three-and-a-half decades, the Central School principal first taught in Pennsylvania before moving to Massachusetts in 1973 for an elementary teaching position in Lawrence. Ending her 11-year relationship with the old textile community in 1994, Windisch was then hired by former School Superintendent Bill Hoyt as the assistant principal at Stoneham Middle School.
But as much as the time-tested administrator enjoyed the challenge of working with the middle school population, Windisch's true calling was discovered upon assuming her current role as Central Elementary School principal in 1997.
"I taught grades 5-8 and enjoyed that age group tremendously. And the middle school experience is certainly the most challenging as an administrator," Windisch remarked. "But I have loved coming into the elementary level as a principal."
"It's a whole other experience with the children, watching them grow and start to make those connections to things like reading. You make a difference. You never know when or exactly how. But you make that difference. So my natural niche is the elementary level," the school leader furthered.
Referring to the Central School's mixed-student population, Soley believes that the school's varied demographics presents a significant challenge for a principal trying to meet the needs and demands of local parents and children.
However, while the first-term School Committee member believes those varying backgrounds and individual needs sometimes created a barrier to welding a unified school community, Windisch proved to be the catalyst needed to birth a Central School melting pot.
"She worked well with her parent population. And sometimes, because it's such a diverse student population, that could be a challenge. But she met that challenge," Soley remarked.
Agreeing wholeheartedly with Soley's assessment of Windisch's successful role as unifier, Superintendent Dr. Joseph Connelly believes that the Central School principal not only forged a vocal parent community, but created the strongest, most active, supporting "school family" in the district.
"Keep in mind that part of her job was overseeing the construction of that school. So she was there for the transition [from the old Central School to the new building]. And she gave the new Central School a personality of it's own," Connelly explained.
"The Central School has a very unique personality and is known to be a very close community. She helped nurture that. It's one of the most active schools in terms of school activities," the Superintendent added.
Last October 1, the Central School community that Windisch had helped mold was rocked on its heels when an errant Chevy Corsica driven by a local grandfather shredded through a crowd of parents and children congregated outside the front entrance of the school building.
In the aftermath, approximately a dozen people sustained injuries in the accident and two Central School families' lives were changed forever, as one mother and her six-year-old son and another five-year-old boy found themselves hospitalized for weeks with crippling leg injuries.
Recalling that horrible sun-splashed Friday afternoon, Windisch characterized the accident as the school community's worst moment.
But through the slow-recovering aftermath of the accident, as "the family" responded to the tragedy, the Central School lived through its greatest triumph.
"We always had it. But that was our test as a family. It was my highest point, to be part of dealing with that, and to be with everybody who came together. We absolutely acted as one, and the whole community was in sync to transform the whole tragedy into something we did more than survive," Windisch said.
"I'm pleased with what we've been able to do here as a unit and as a community. And it will be extremely difficult for me to walk away from this. I have terribly conflicted feelings about all of it. In the morning, there's nothing better than coming into this playground and seeing all those smiling faces. It sounds so corny, but it really is my inspiration."
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